The trademark registrant made a misunderstanding within the time required to provide proof.

In recent years, with the development of the market economy, the number of trademark applications has increased year by year, and the number of applications to the Trademark Office to revoke trademarks that have not been used for three years has also increased. However, in the process of reviewing and handling such cases, it was discovered that the relevant provisions in the Trademark Law and the Implementing Rules of the Trademark Law need to be further supplemented and improved.

1. The party filing the revocation application. There should be justifiable reasons

Article 30, Paragraph 4 of the "Trademark Law" stipulates: "A trademark that has been suspended from use for three consecutive years shall be ordered by the Trademark Office to make corrections within a time limit or Cancel its registered trademark." Article 29 of the "Implementing Rules of the Trademark Law" stipulates: "Any person may apply to the Trademark Office to cancel the registered trademark and explain the relevant circumstances."

In the past two years, the Trademark Office has revoked trademarks that have not been used for three years in accordance with the law, accounting for more than 50% of the cancellation applications. This shows that the party filing the application mostly has sufficient basis to prove that the proposed trademark registrant has been registered for three years. does not use its trademark. However, some applicants have other reasons:

1. The applicant who proposes to revoke a trademark that has not been used for three years wants to have the exclusive right to a trademark, but others The registered trademark has been registered for use. The applicant first proposed to the other party to transfer the registered trademark, but failed to reach an agreement and refused to give up the name of the registered trademark, so he came up with this method to cancel the exclusive trademark of the trademark registrant and filed a cancellation application with the Trademark Office. In fact, the registrant has been using its trademark, and the applicant has no other choice but to write a letter and try his luck.

It should be said that this kind of move by the applicant is against the legislative purpose of the Trademark Law. However, according to the "Details", anyone can apply to the Trademark Office to revoke the trademark. Registered trademark (referring to a registered trademark that has not been used for three years), and explain the relevant circumstances. The "explanation of relevant circumstances" should mean something.

2. When his application for a registered trademark is rejected, the applicant also files an application for cancellation of the registered trademark if it has not been used for three years. Several companies have used the trademark rejection notice issued by the Trademark Office as a reason to apply for cancellation of a trademark that has not been used for three years. This reason for application is obviously unfair to the trademark registrant. A foreign company once mentioned that the trademark of a company in Chongqing was not in use. After receiving the notice from the Trademark Office to provide proof of trademark use, the trademark registrant immediately sent a letter to provide evidence of trademark use on the one hand, and emphasized in fierce terms on the other hand, Why do foreign companies say out of thin air that our trademark has not been used for three years? In fact, we have been using it. They are making false accusations.

Although the words of the company are a bit harsh, they also reflect an objective fact. At this point, the "description of relevant circumstances" in the "Details" should be strictly limited to prevent anyone from taking advantage of this loophole. Anyone who proposes At the same time as the cancellation application, a written report should be attached, the content of which should be the market survey results of the proposed trademark cancellation, or the business status survey of the trademark registrant within three years and other relevant documents. Only in this way can it be proved that the applicant is indeed in compliance with the law.

2. The party providing proof of use of the registered trademark shall explain its legitimate reasons for not using it

1. Article 29 of the "Trademark Law Implementing Rules" also stipulates: The Trademark Office shall notify the trademark registrant to provide proof of use of the trademark or legitimate reasons for non-use within three months from the date of receipt of the notice. .

A company in Hubei was accused of not using its registered trademark within three years. After receiving a notice from the Trademark Office asking it to provide proof of use of the registered trademark, the company submitted a complaint , due to the shortage of funds in the factory in the past few years, it has indeed not used the registered trademark in the past three years. Now that it has raised enough funds, it is ready to continue to use the trademark. Is this a legitimate reason to use the registered trademark in accordance with the law?

When it comes to providing evidence of registered trademarks, some countries regard conditions such as the enterprise’s willingness to use a registered trademark as evidence of use, that is, the trademark registrant’s previous or three-year If a registered trademark is not used within the country but still has the intention to use it, the authority in charge of trademarks will regard it as using the registered trademark. Whether this is suitable for China's national conditions is another matter. And whether the legitimate reasons for non-use of the trademark should be limited : What is a legitimate reason? What is an unreasonable reason? There should be laws to follow, such as external reasons, reasons caused by superior authorities, reasons caused by subjective poor management, or reasons caused by energy supply, etc.

When it comes to providing evidence of registered trademarks, some countries also regard conditions such as the enterprise’s willingness to use a registered trademark as evidence of use, that is, the trademark registrant’s previous or three-year If a registered trademark has not been used within a certain period of time, but still has the intention to use it, the authority in charge of trademarks will regard it as using the registered trademark. Whether this is suitable for China's national conditions is another matter. And whether there should be legitimate reasons for not using the trademark Limitation: What is a legitimate reason? What is an unjust reason? External reasons, reasons caused by superior authorities, reasons caused by subjective poor management, or reasons caused by energy supply, etc., should be followed by law.

Because some well-known trademarks or famous trademarks have implemented protective registration, the registrant has also registered trademarks with the same name for other categories of goods.Implement protective measures. For this reason, there are many categories of registered trademarks that are not used at all. According to the relevant provisions of the Trademark Law, they may be revoked if they are not used for three years. This is obviously not conducive to the protection and development of well-known trademarks. Therefore, when stating the legitimate reasons for not using a registered trademark in the "Details", it should be noted that well-known trademarks recognized by the Trademark Office, or famous trademarks recognized by administrative agencies above the XX level, can be regarded as legitimate reasons for not using them. To contribute to the creation and development of well-known trademarks.

3. The trademark registrant made a misunderstanding within the time required to provide proof

Notice to the Trademark Office If a trademark registrant finds that his or her registered trademark has not been used for three years, the registrant is required to provide proof of use of the proposed trademark to the Trademark Office within three months of receiving the notice. During this period, some trademark registrants did not use their registered trademarks within three years and could not provide valid certification materials, but they were not willing to give up their registered trademarks voluntarily, so they used the three months limited by providing certification to try to keep it own trademark.

1. Immediately go to the Trademark Office to apply for a trademark with the same name. After all, a registered trademark is part of the company's industrial property rights and one of the company's intangible assets. Do not use It's okay to leave it idle. Once lost, it is impossible to catch and use it again. Some companies see this and use this method to protect their registered trademarks.

2. Immediately find a transferee to transfer your registered trademark and give it up. It is better to sell this intangible asset at a discount to recover part of the funds and reduce the company's losses...